Many types of shoe racks have been developed for storing shoes, including racks designed to be suspended from a hinged door. Such shoe racks typically utilize one or more generally inverted U-shaped hooks to fit over the top edge of the door, with a rack assembly being suspended vertically from the hooks along the length of the door. A problem frequently encountered with such racks is a lack of structural rigidity. Prior shoe racks tend to deflect under the weight of the shoes, causing vertical support members to curve away from the door. Shoe racks in this condition have an undesirable appearance, weakened vertical supports, and an unstable structure that is prone to failure.
Some shoe racks retain the shoes stored thereon in an inclined position such that the heel or toe of the shoe rests against the door or wall supporting the rack to prevent the shoes from falling off the rack. An example of this approach can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,279, issued to Klein et al., which discloses a shoe rack having a plurality of support arms projecting outwardly and downwardly from a vertical frame. The rack includes sets of generally horizontally-extending retaining bars positioned between frame members and aligned in a plane forming an acute angle with respect to vertical to support the shoes in a downward-angled manner
A problem with prior shoe racks is that they are generally suspended such that the rack engages the door at only a few points, such as at the top and bottom of the rack, and/or at points about one-third and two-thirds the length of the rack as measured from the top of the rack. This can result in an unstable structure that is prone to a rocking motion. Excessive rocking can cause the hangers or hooks to eventually work free from the door, causing the rack to fall. In addition, repetitive rocking motion can also cause structural fatigue in the rack components and thereby reduce the life of the rack.
Still another shortcoming of prior shoe racks is their lack of expandability. Most shoe racks have a fixed capacity, which may be either excessive or inadequate for particular users. Users needing more capacity will often simply stack as many shoes as possible into the volume available on the rack, potentially exceeding the safe holding capacity of the rack and causing it to fail.
Accordingly, there is a need for a shoe rack having sufficient structural strength to withstand the loads imposed by the shoes without deformation. There is also a need for a shoe rack sufficiently stable to withstand the acceleration and deceleration forces encountered by the opening and closing of a door from which the rack is suspended. There is also a need for a modular shoe rack to allow multiple racks to be suspended together without an appreciable reduction in structural integrity.